From AHS to Africa

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November 28, 2011
Filed under People

Junior Alexis Garretson tutors a student from Lahore, Pakistan in calculus.

Most students attempt to take easy classes throughout high school, but junior Alexis Garretson is going against the norm and taking extra classes to graduate from AHS early.

Garretson is leaving AHS this February to travel to Rabat, Morocco for four months. Garretson attends Edison HS during school mornings to take Biology and US/VA History. She is also taking English 11 and 12 online and her final history credit will be completed upon her return from Morocco. Garretson will graduate from AHS this August.

Garretson received an academic scholarship from the U.S. State Department through The National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y). The program grants scholarships to students to send them to a variety of countries worldwide. The students then immerse themselves in the culture of that nation and learn one of the seven languages offered by the program.

Garretson will stay in Morocco for six to eight weeks with a host family.

“My education has always been very important and I’m not done yet, I’m just taking some time to learn about the world and what kind of person I am,” Garretson said.

Similar to an immersion program, Garretson will take classroom type courses and will be encouraged to practice Arabic with her host family as well. She will be engulfed in Arabic culture and learn about the basic ways of life in Morocco.

After returning from Morocco and graduating, Garretson wants to join “City Year,” which is a program for which volunteers tutor inner city kids and do community service. Garretson has a lot of tutoring experience and tutors Spanish, math, science and English as a second language. Garretson applied to the City Year Boston location, but does not know yet if she has been accepted into the program. In case she does not get into City Year, Garretson is looking into other programs, including overseas medical and government programs, or considering taking a gap year in either India or Tanzania.

Even after planning to attend all of these programs and opportunities, Garretson still plans on attending college.

Over the past summer, Garretson visited Harvard University and took some semester courses, which made her realize that she wanted to finish high school early.

“I have really loved being at AHS, but I think it’s just the right time for me to leave and I feel like there is more that I can learn by taking a year off and then going to college,” Garretson said.

She has big plans and wants to major in a field relating to biology or genetics and minor in international policies. She wants to go to medical school afterwards, with hopes of becoming a doctor.

Garretson owes her educational success to the help of her mom and her counselor. Through their support, she is able to graduate early and participate in these programs. Her friends have also been helping her through the process.

“My friends have been pretty supportive; they’re sad that I’m leaving before our senior year, but they kind of understand. I’ll still be entering college with the same kids that I entered high school with, I will just have taken a little detour before I got there.”

Garretson has a big heart and really cares about others, which fuels her interest to travel and help others around the world.

“I really want to help other kids realize their own dreams.”